Intentions to Marry, 1912 Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840450, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1912 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Gisborne (1912a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1912b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1912c).

Page 439

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1912 Registrar Henry Maxwell

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

19 January 1912

Douglas Maxwell Harland
Sarah Wright

Douglas Maxwell Harland
Sarah Wright
💍 1912/576

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

20 years
21 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 years
3 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

12/223

John Maxwell Harland Father

19 January 1912

H Maxwell

No	31
Date of Notice	19 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Maxwell Harland	Sarah Wright
	💍 1912/576
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	20 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	12/223
Consent	John Maxwell Harland Father
Date of Certificate	19 January 1912
Officiating Minister	H Maxwell

19 January 1912

Edwin Allan Omand
Helen Campbell Watson

Edwin Allan Omand
Helen Campbell Watson
💍 1912/1252

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Saleswoman

31 years
29 years

Roslyn
Roslyn

26 years
6 months

In the House of Mr W Wright Fairfax Street Roslyn

12/928

19 January 1912

J Chisholm

No	32
Date of Notice	19 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Allan Omand	Helen Campbell Watson
	💍 1912/1252
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Saleswoman
Age	31 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Roslyn
Length of Residence	26 years	6 months
Marriage Place	In the House of Mr W Wright Fairfax Street Roslyn
Folio	12/928
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1912
Officiating Minister	J Chisholm

20 January 1912

Peter Torrie
Maria Sutherland

Peter Torrie
Maria Sutherland
💍 1912/2081

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram Conductor

28 years
24 years

Dunedin
Caversham

7 days
12 months

In the house of Mr Meek 56 Manor Place Dunedin

12/1770

20 January 1912

I. K. McIntyre

No	33
Date of Notice	20 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Torrie	Maria Sutherland
	💍 1912/2081
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram Conductor
Age	28 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Caversham
Length of Residence	7 days	12 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Meek 56 Manor Place Dunedin
Folio	12/1770
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1912
Officiating Minister	I. K. McIntyre

20 January 1912

James Lawrence Dougherty
Mary Ann Elizabeth King

James Laurence Dougherty
Mary Ann Elizabeth King
💍 1912/577

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23 years
21 years

Dunedin
Ravensbourne

3 days
4 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

12/224

20 January 1912

H Maxwell

No	34
Date of Notice	20 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Lawrence Dougherty	Mary Ann Elizabeth King
BDM Match (98%)	James Laurence Dougherty	Mary Ann Elizabeth King
	💍 1912/577
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Ravensbourne
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	12/224
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1912
Officiating Minister	H Maxwell

22 January 1912

John Philips Little
Sarah McMullan

John Philips Little
Sarah McMullan
💍 1912/578

Bachelor
Spinster

Hosier

31 years
23 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 week
23 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

12/225

22 January 1912

H Maxwell

No	35
Date of Notice	22 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Philips Little	Sarah McMullan
	💍 1912/578
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hosier
Age	31 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 week	23 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	12/225
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1912
Officiating Minister	H Maxwell

22 January 1912

Alexander James McDonald
Margaret Black Steedman

Alexander James McDonald
Margaret Black Steedman
💍 1912/611

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal merchant

23 years
20 years

St Kilda
Roslyn

10 years
2 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

12/226

Isabella Wallace guardian

22 January 1912

H Maxwell

No	36
Date of Notice	22 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander James McDonald	Margaret Black Steedman
	💍 1912/611
	💍 1912/611
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal merchant
Age	23 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	St Kilda	Roslyn
Length of Residence	10 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	12/226
Consent	Isabella Wallace guardian
Date of Certificate	22 January 1912
Officiating Minister	H Maxwell

23 January 1912

Peter Matthews
Elizabeth Mary Faithfull

Peter Matthews
Elizabeth Mary Faithfull
💍 1912/1265

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22 years
22 years

Mornington
Dunedin

9 years
22 years

In the house of the Rev Wm Slade 56 Royal Terrace Dunedin

12/892

23 January 1912

Wm Slade

No	37
Date of Notice	23 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Matthews	Elizabeth Mary Faithfull
	💍 1912/1265
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Dunedin
Length of Residence	9 years	22 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev Wm Slade 56 Royal Terrace Dunedin
Folio	12/892
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1912
Officiating Minister	Wm Slade

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).